Broken Key Extraction in Erie, PA

Where keys snap in Erie

A key usually breaks where a lock is under strain: a stiff cylinder, a worn key or a bolt fighting a misaligned door. Erie's housing and winters can supply each of those.

• Shared street doors. In East Bayfront's multi-family conversions, one front door can take keys from several households. Keys copied from copies can be worn or inexact, and a worn key is the one that snaps.
• Older cylinders. More than four in ten Erie homes predate 1940 in Census Bureau estimates, and a house that old may still have its original cylinders. Wear and grime inside a cylinder add resistance until a key gives way.
• Frozen locks. NOAA describes lake-effect snow across Pennsylvania's northwest. Moisture can turn to ice in a cylinder overnight, and forcing a key into a frozen lock is a common way to snap one. Use a lock de-icer instead.
• Downtown buildings. In multi-tenant buildings around Perry Square, management usually controls the exterior doors and master keys. If a key breaks in a building door, tell management first; they may need to be present and may hold the only spare.

What not to do

• Do not push the stub further in or try to turn the lock with it.
• Do not use super glue to grab the fragment. It can lock the fragment against the pins and turn an extraction into a replacement.
• Do not spray oil into the keyway, which makes the piece slippery and harder to grip.
• Do not keep using a key that is cracked or bent. Have a spare copied from a good key before it fails.

Keep the piece you still hold. It carries part of the key's cuts and can help in making a new key.

What to send

• A photo of the keyway showing whether the piece sits flush, sits deeper or sticks out
• A photo of the broken piece in your hand
• Which lock: street door, unit door, mailbox, deadbolt or car
• Whether the door is locked or unlocked, and whether you are inside or out
• Whether a working spare exists

If you are outside with the door locked, the request is also a house lockout. For a key snapped in a car door or ignition, car key replacement may follow. See broken key extraction and the Erie page.